The Duke Energy-Progress Energy merge would create the largest U.S. utility by market capitalization ($36.5 billion), number of customers (7.1 million) and energy generation capacity (shown below).

Rank

Utility

Gigawatts

1

Southern

42.9

2

NextEra (parent of Florida Power & Light)

42.7

3

AEP (American Electric Power)

37

4

Duke

35.4

5

Calpine

28.3

6

Entergy

27.9

7

Dominion

25.6

8

Exelon

24.9

9

First Energy-Allegheny

23.7

10

Progress Energy

21.8

* Based on energy capacity owned as of Sept. 30 for Duke and Progress and as of Dec. 31, 2009, for all others on the list.

Source: Company filings

Residential customer service

Duke Energy delivered the best customer satisfaction to residents in the southeastern United States, the latest J.D. Power survey said. Progress Energy Florida was last. The rankings included 14 utilities that serve the Southeast.

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